This invention relates to a bed for supporting a reclining body thereon in a level condition.
There have been many theoretical analyses of the sleeping condition. As referred to in the Mar. 11, 1975, issue of Enquirer, entitled "Dreams Warn of Dangerous Illness and Can Save Your Life", human dreams often result from a stimulation of the mind by sensory impulses received during sleep. These impulses originate from movement of the body, pressure on the body from an unlevel condition, or internal bodily disturbances. Thus, sensory impulses which stimulate dreams have for the most part been associated with a bodily feeling of irritation that might go unnoticed because the irritation is not very strong. This theory can even be reduced to a particular part of the body as being the source of the irritation stimulating the dream.
As a result, the motor responses and the character of the dreams produced in human sleep can be traced to sensory impulses produced by physical discomforts incurred during sleep.
Therefore, the desirability of a body support which eliminates the physical discomforts incurred during sleep and increases the beneficial results from sleep has long been recognized. Representative prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. Schenker 2,469,084 and Shecter et al 3,047,888.
Schenker attempted to overcome the above physical discomforts and increase the beneficial results from sleep by adding a rigid metal plate shaped in accordance with an individual's anatomical configuration to a body support, as shown in FIGS. 1-8. However, the anatomical configuration of the rigid plate fails to support one lying on the body support in a level condition. The rigid plate does not provide the necessary maximum support in the areas of greatest weight by the body members on the mattress to overcome the sensory impulses associated with bodily irritations from an unlevel condition of the body during sleep.
Moreover, still other multi-layered mattresses provide maximum support to the wrong parts of the body, increasing bodily irritations and user's discomfort. An example of this wrong type of support is illustrated in FIG. 3 of Schecter et al., which shows a "hammocking" condition of the body.